The Xara Xone Tutorials
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As always, we will be using Pixels as our units of measure. Right click on the screen and select Page Options... from the pop up menu. In the Units tabbed section, select Pixels for the Units and 0-255 for the Color Units. In the Grid and Ruler tabbed section set the Major Spacing to 100pix (key it in exactly like this please) and the Number of Subdivisions to 10. Press OK to close the dialog and apply the changes.

To see a tutorial on Xara Basics visit Workbook 20.

NOTE: You will notice from time to time I apply arbitrary colors to objects. I do this to make the objects easier to see. If I do not specify a fill for an object, you do not have to apply a fill or outline color.

When I show an ellipse or rectangle that has just been created, that has no fill, it is because I have set the fill to none before I exported the illustration. By default, all ellipses, rectangles and Quick Shapes have a black outline and a black fill. There is nothing wrong with your copy of Xara.

Naming Conventions. I use bold face to indicate the names of tools, galleries, keyboard shortcuts, and dialogs. Items such as unnamed icons and drop down lists, which have names when you let your cursor rest over them for a moment, are displayed in italics.

The Infobar is the context sensitive menu at the top of the screen and changes to reflect the options for the selected tool.

Some of the tool icons have changed in Xara X1, and this may cause some confusion for new users. If you are using an older version of Xara, click here to see my Rosetta Stone for translating the old buttons into the new.

New Users? I have created some quick start mini-tutorials to get you though the basics. Workbook 20, Workbook 30, and Workbook 31 cover the main things you need to know to get started.

While you should be able to create all the steps in previous versions of Xara, some of the tool icons have changed, and this may cause some confusion for new users. If you are using an older version of Xara, click here to see my Rosetta Stone for translating the old buttons into the new.


There is a lot to cover in this tutorial so let's get started.

Eye on the Road Xara X Tutorial

Select the Ellipse Tool. Hold down the Ctrl key and drag a circle to 300 pixels. Create two more circles to the sizes shown above. Space the two larger circles 60 pixels apart as shown. The larger circles should be vertically centered.

Duplicate (Ctrl d) the 300 pixel circle and set it to one side.

Eye on the Road Xara X Tutorial

Hold down the Shift key and click on both larger circles with the Selector Tool (F2) to multiple select them. From the Arrange menu select Combine Shapes... Add Shapes or you can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl 1.

With the combined shape selected, switch to the Shape Editor Tool (F4). Select the control points highlighted above (red outlined boxes) and delete them using the Delete key on your keyboard.

 

Eye on the Road Xara X Tutorial

Make a duplicate of the small circle (Ctrl d) and set it to one side.

Center the small circle over the duplicate of the 300 pixel circle (Ctrl Shift L to open the Alignment dialog). With both circles selected, from the Arrange menu > select Combine Shapes... Subtract Shapes (Ctrl 2). (You can also use the Join Shapes command for this operation).

Modify the fill color for the new  O-shape using the Color Editor (Ctrl e)

NOTE: If your RGB color units are in percent instead of 0-255 you need to change your Color Units in the Page Option dialog (Ctrl Shift o)

 

Eye on the Road Xara X Tutorial

Select the O-shape with the Bevel Tool (Ctrl F3). Drag any of the red arrow handles towards the center to create an Inner Bevel. From the Bevel Type drop down list on the Infobar at the top of the screen, select Rounded.

Increase the Contrast slider setting to 80%. From the Slider Type drop down list, select Size. Key in 37pix and press Enter to apply the change.

 

 

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